Beer up: Ancient Egyptian brewery found in Tel Aviv

A worker for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) cleans findings at an archaeological dig in a future construction site in Tel Aviv, where fragments of ancient basins were unearthed, March 29, 2015. (Reuters / Nir Elias) / Reuters

Pieces of ancient Egyptian beer-brewing pottery dating back 5,000 years have been found during archeological excavations in Tev Aviv among ruins of an Egyptian settlement.

According to a statement
from Israel's Antiquities Authority, the shards were found under
an office construction site in 17 pits used to store agricultural
produce in the Early Bronze Age (3500-3000 BC).

The ceramic vessels were made using an Egyptian method that
differed from local pottery-making at the time.

Archeologists have also detected a thick, partially baked water
and barley mixture left to ferment in the sun.

“Among the hundreds of pottery sherds that characterize the
local culture, a number of fragments of large ceramic basins were
discovered that were made in an Egyptian tradition and were used
to prepare beer. Beer was the Egyptian national drink and was a
staple along with bread,” excavation director Diego Barkan
said in a statement.

It is said that beer was consumed by the entire population of
Egypt – regardless of age, gender, or status.

“It was made from a mixture of barley and water that was
partially baked and then left to ferment in the sun. Various
fruit concentrates were added to this mixture in order to flavor
the beer," the Antiquities Authority said in its statement.

Previous excavations in Egypt's Delta region revealed breweries
which prove that beer was already being produced in the
mid-fourth millennium BC.

The recent excavation is the first to prove Egypt's presence in
the center of Tel Aviv 5,000 years ago.

Earlier archaeologists in Israel found evidence of Egyptian
communities to the south, in the Negev and along its
Mediterranean coast.